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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28336212">The New Case</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/biographicalnonsense/pseuds/biographicalnonsense'>biographicalnonsense</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Domestic Bliss, Foster child Nicaise, Found Family, M/M, Wedding, lawyer berenger, paralegal ancel, thief nicaise</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:55:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,206</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28336212</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/biographicalnonsense/pseuds/biographicalnonsense</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Berenger usually can't leave his pro bono work at the office and Ancel has learned to deal with that until suddenly it takes on a whole new meaning.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ancel/Berenger (Captive Prince)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Captive Prince Secret Santa 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Berenger is a workaholic</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shae_la_Hyene/gifts">Shae_la_Hyene</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Who would've guessed I could write so much in so little time. This was extremely fun and I ended up with some more ideas for this au even. </p><p>I decided to break the whole thing up into little chapters just so it's a little more structured but in the end, it really functions as a one-shot.</p><p>I hope you enjoy it and happy holidays belated holidays!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Shutting off after work tended to be hard for Berenger. The corporate cases were easily forgotten about but whenever he took up a more personal one they haunted him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As with everything, Ancel tended to notice without him even having to say anything. He would tone it down with his demands, simply rest his head on Berenger’s shoulder and keep him company silently. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Though sometimes it would get too much for Ancel and even if he tried to hide it, his disdain was obvious. It was the little things, the small remarks that slipped out of the middle of nowhere. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Go marry the case then if you don’t give a shit about this wedding.”, the words felt like a stab to his side at first but they only hurt so much because Berenger was well aware he had been neglecting his fiancé lately. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ancel was sitting at the kitchen counter, tons of wedding magazines spread out in front of him. While Berenger had been lost in thought as he cooked dinner Ancel had probably tried to ask him his opinion on flower arrangements or something else and a hum was obviously not an acceptable answer. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry.”, Berenger said quietly and let the pasta be pasta for a moment so he could walk around the counter and take Ancel into his arms. “I didn’t mean to take any pro bono case this close to our wedding but the boy needed help.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was a sniff from Ancel who was probably fighting back tears so they wouldn’t ruin his makeup. Still, he melted into Berenger’s arms and after a while, he even looked up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know. Your damn heart’s too big. That’s why I said yes after all. It’s just… a lot.”, he sighed as his emerald eyes locked with Berenger’s.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you too. I’ll try and help you some more. It’s supposed to be our wedding after all. You should enjoy it.”, Berenger smiled and leaned down to peck Ancel’s lips before quickly pulling away when he heard the pasta overflow. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He barely managed to fix it in time and had to wipe some water from the stove. As he turned around again he could see Ancel laughing at him with that genuine laughter reserved only for him or the mishappenings of others or both. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“By the way, I like the shirt, is it new?”, he grinned and gestured to Ancel’s sage green silk shirt with half of the buttons undone. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I bought it almost 2 weeks ago. You’re just proving my point.”, Ancel was laughing again, so he couldn’t actually be that mad.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Once their dinner was done and they were sitting down at their dining table, overlooking Arles from their loft apartment, Ancel took his hand and looked at him seriously. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Now tell me all about that boy. If I can’t get him off your mind I better know what’s going on.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The culprit</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nicaise was a good kid. A good kid who happened to be thrown into a series of bad situations and had ended up a shoplifter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Berenger first read the case he hadn’t been able to help but feel at least a little impressed. No average 14 year old would’ve been able to simply swipe several hundred thousands worth of jewels, phones, and watches.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The kid was obviously brilliant, that was the first reason why Berenger had decided to take the case. Then Laurent had handed him reports of several abuse allegations and that had finalized his decision. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Working with Nicaise proved a challenge. Berenger knew his fashion had improved ever since he’d given Ancel almost free reign over his closet but Nicaise still found about 10 different things wrong with each outfit and pointed them out viciously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not to mention the rest of his snarky remarks directed at Berenger’s personality. And still, Berenger found himself doing whatever he could to keep the kid from doing jail time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was hard to play out the poor foster child card when Nicaise tried to show everyone just how much of a little shit he was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His attitude did a 180 the day some social worker walked into one of their meetings and announced Nicaise's old foster home wasn’t going to take him back even if he didn’t get jail time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The insults to Berenger stayed the same though Nicaise did start playing the sweet innocent boy whenever they talked to any court officials. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After 2 months of fighting and even more psychological evaluations Nicaise got off with having to return all of the stolen goods and some couple hundred hours of community service.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Though when Nicaise got escorted onto a bus by some new social worker Berenger couldn’t help but be a little sad. The boy deserved better than how the system was treating him. Behind those insults had to be a sweet side, that had been hidden under several layers of protective armor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he got home that night Ancel didn’t even give him time to take off his shoes and coat and jumped him right away, muttering something about finally being the only thing on Berenger’s mind again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It did work for the next few hours, as long as Ancel was demanding his full attention while being on top of him. Berenger really didn’t think about Nicaise anymore. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was until some little voice in the back of his head reminded him as they were cuddling and he stopped stroking Ancel’s hair for a moment. Ancel lifted his head from where it was resting on Berenger’s stomach and glared at him accusingly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you ever think… maybe we should adopt?”, Berenger mumbled quietly which earned him several different grimaces from Ancel, who shot up immediately. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh no. Honey, I love you but we already talked about this. If anything we’re getting fur babies. I’m the only baby you need and I can be just as expensive.”, Ancel shook his head vehemently and gave Berenger a pitiful smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wasn’t talking about a baby.”, Berenger sighed and leaned back against his pillows. It took Ancel a moment to understand but when he did his face turned into a full-on pout. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No. That’s not fair. You’re done with the case. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I</span>
  </em>
  <span> need attention.”, Ancel protested and crossed his arms in front of his chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sighing, Berenger leaned in and cupped Ancel’s face. There was no other way to keep Ancel from exploding now so he simply kissed the frown from his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You do have my attention. Just think about it.”, he whispered and earned himself a light slap on his chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I hate you.”, Ancel let out a dramatic sigh but wrapped his arms around Berenger. “Fine. Arrange a meeting. I’ll see how I feel about it after.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>To be fair, Berenger hadn’t actually expected Ancel to indulge him in the first place so he was taken aback for a moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah. Sure. Sure.”, he mumbled, not able to fight the huge grin that was spreading on his face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t you dare be so happy with yourself now. I still want my attention. We should order in so you can focus just on me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Berenger couldn’t help laughing and pulled Ancel in even closer. Making a mental note to call Nicaise’s social worker the next morning.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. First meetings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>A few days later, Ancel found himself in some diner, sitting in front of a scrawny teenager dressed in all black with kohl liner around his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>To his right was Berenger who was obviously already a goner, even though the kid didn’t hold back on pointing out the few grey hairs on his temple. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you’re the one who stole the whole stuff right?”, he asked as they waited for the kid to finish studying the menu. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I want a chocolate milkshake, some fries, a hamburger, and a muffin.”, was all the answer Ancel got. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nicaise, I brought you here to get to know Ancel, please answer him.”, Berenger scolded with that soothing voice he always used on Ancel when Ancel was mad at him because of some minor inconvenience.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fiiiine.”, Nicaise rolled his eyes and glared at Ancel. “Yes, that’s me. So what? It wasn’t like I could’ve gotten some money anywhere else.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As far as Ancel could tell Nicaise was a little shit who most definitely didn’t deserve to get his yoga room but Berenger wasn’t a complete pushover. He wouldn’t have suggested taking the boy in if he hadn’t seen anything good in him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you want to be when you grow up?”, he decided to offer another friendly hand before he would start biting back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a moment Nicaise seemed to be taken aback, then he furrowed his brows in thought. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess I’ll just open up an onlyfans once I’m 18. If that goes well maybe I’ll pursue music.”, he shrugged and Ancel flinched when the 14-year-old mentioned sex work. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Obviously, Ancel wasn’t one to judge. He’d gotten a fake id at 17 just so he could dance at some shady club and earn some extra money and pay for that stupid certificate course. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly Berenger’s hand found Ancel’s and squeezed it. Of course he knew, Berenger always knew everything. Sometimes Ancel wondered if he was dating some kind of feelings-bloodhound. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I suppose that’s a plan.”, Ancel broke the silence before it could become uncomfortable. “Who were your last families?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just a hint of disgust ran over Nicaise’s face but like a shadow, it almost disappeared right away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I had 4 families in the last 2 years I think. They were nice I guess.”, he played it off and took his chocolate milkshake from the waiter, sipping at it pointedly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ancel knew the system and he knew what kind of families the ‘nice’ ones were. Suddenly Nicaise’s insults made sense. If some rich couple would’ve given him the chance at a normal life back in the day Ancel would’ve been just as suspicious and mean. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His mind was almost made up now but he didn’t want Berenger to know he would give up his yoga room that easily. In the end, if Ancel complained enough he would probably get something to make up for it, and he wouldn’t get that if he simply said yes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They spent the rest of their lunch talking about Nicaise’s favorite bands and got to know him some more, well as much as he allowed them to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they got back out of the diner Ancel almost felt sick from all the greasy stuff he ate and got even sicker when some slimy social worker grabbed Nicaise by the shoulders. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ll be in touch. Goodbye Nicaise.”, Berenger took over talking and Ancel just gave Nicaise an encouraging smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>On their way home Berenger kept glancing over at Ancel expectantly until Ancel eventually feigned annoyance. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re going to kill us. Keep your eyes on the road!”, he complained but couldn’t help intertwining his fingers with Berenger’s nevertheless.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They made it home without crashing even though Berenger had simply laughed at him and Ancel kept fake pouting the rest of the way. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So?”, Berenger leaned over, his face hovering right in front of Ancel. When Ancel reached for the door he noticed it was locked and rolled his eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know if he’s worth giving up my yoga room.”, he insisted and tried to look as innocent as possible. That earned him another laugh from Berenger. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll reorganize my office so you get half of the space.”, the offer seemed suspicious. Berenger didn’t like it when Ancel came into his office when he was working, mostly because that always turned into sex and crumbled files. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you won’t lock me out anymore?”, Ancel asked accusingly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve never locked you out”, it was not technically a lie but threatening Ancel with cutting his allowance guaranteed he wouldn’t enter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know what I mean”, he squinted his eyes at Berenger.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay okay. No </span>
  <em>
    <span>locking out</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”, Berenger promised and held up his hands. That was enough for Ancel to drop the facade. He leaned in and pecked his fiancé’s lips. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright. He can have my yoga room but I’m getting a sex schedule so I won’t go cold turkey.”, Ancel sighed dramatically and leaned in to unlock the doors from the driver’s side. He was caught by Berenger before he could do anything and they ended up making out in the car until one of their neighbors walked by and yelled at them to get a room.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Move-in day</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Even with Berenger’s law background, the paperwork took several weeks to get done but Berenger tried to make up for that by scheduling regular visits for them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once Nicaise had realized that this was actually happening he’d slowly started to open up some more, at least to Ancel. Berenger didn’t mind. It was nice seeing them get along.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>On move-in day Ancel was still complaining about his yoga room, even though his smile very obviously betrayed him and he stopped the second Nicaise was present. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They had let Nicaise pick some furniture from a catalog and had the whole room installed already so Nicaise’s suitcase was small but he had several bags of posters with him as well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll show Nicki his room. Can you start making us some lunch?”, Ancel asked overly sweetly and pressed a kiss to Berenger’s cheek before the two of them left him standing in the middle of their open kitchen slash living room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With a sigh he started cutting some vegetables, trying to eavesdrop a little. He only caught bits but most of them seemed to be Nicaise gushing about how the room was just good enough but the view was perfect for his Toktok? account.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he’d fallen for Ancel, Berenger had made himself forget about having kids but now that they were some kind of little family Berenger couldn’t help but be glad they got some more domesticity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ancel came out of Nicaise’s room chuckling and closed the door quietly. He came up behind Berenger and wrapped his arms around him before letting out a happy sigh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s doing a room tour, before and after, for his TikTok.”, he announced and lazily placed some kisses on Berenger’s neck. It was rather distracting considering Berenger was trying not to cut himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, so it’s TikTok. What kind of app is that?”, the question was really only a strategy to keep Ancel talking and keep him from distracting him even more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ancel fell for it and went on a whole rant about how he had shown Berenger thousands of TikToks already and how he should really pay more attention especially with a kid in the house. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Berenger knew very well the videos came from that app, he simply had never cared to learn the actual name but it was easier to get the rest of the food ready while Ancel was talking and not feeling him up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once the food was ready Ancel went to get Nicaise and managed to even make him leave his phone in his room for lunch. A glance to Ancel’s ring assured him this was really happening. They were a family.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nicaise ended up adjusting rather quickly, despite what the social worker had told them about Nicaise responding badly to change. He’d plastered the black walls in his rooms with posters of animes and indie bands and insisted on listening to them on speaker for several hours a day. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>To keep these listening privileges he’d even agreed when Berenger had suggested he should change schools. He even wore the blue school blazer instead of trying to dye it black to match his style. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The school seemed to be good for him. His report cards were nearly perfect and soon enough Nicaise announced he was starting a band with some of his classmates.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For the next few weeks, their dinner conversations solely consisted of fights on why Ancel wouldn’t allow Nicaise’s band to play at their wedding which resulted in Ancel promising Nicaise one song once everyone was drunk and already dancing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Berenger didn’t mind though Ancel ended up complaining about it for more than a week. Something along the lines of how he and his stupid case had ‘ruined’ their wedding. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the end, it turned out that it wasn’t Nicaise who had seemingly ruined their wedding but the weather forecast and after assuring Ancel that rain on their wedding day would not ruin his hair too much and just meant good luck everything went back to normal.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The wedding</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The wedding suddenly came along way sooner than expected. Ancel had booked Nicaise as the ringbearer and forced him into a white dress shirt underneath his suit rather than a black one. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Berenger knew Ancel turning into a bossy mess was just his wedding jitters but Nicaise complained about it several times a day, that was until Berenger promised to buy him a Nintendo Switch if he played along with Ancel’s eccentricities.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everything else went by in a rush and all of a sudden Berenger found himself standing at the altar, his heart racing, as the music started playing and Ancel stepped in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had insisted on designing his own outfit and now that Berenger was finally allowed to see it Berenger wouldn’t have it any other way. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Somehow Ancel had managed to incorporate a train into a bright white suit. The legs were a little too long so only the tips of his heels were looking out with each step he took.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His promise to Ancel not to cry was out the window in a matter of seconds and he had to wipe at his eyes so he wouldn’t start bawling. It earned him a glare from Ancel but it turned into a bright smile only seconds after. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After what felt like forever Ancel finally made it down the aisle and took Berenger’s hands. From up close Berenger could see a single tear rolling down Ancel’s cheek, the rest were probably held back so he wouldn’t ruin his makeup.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nicaise came up from the side with the rings and grinned at the two of them before setting the pillow down and returning back to his front-row seat and letting the court official take over again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ancel’s vows were surprisingly sweet and it was almost too overwhelming for Berenger to stand. When it was finally time for his own vows Berenger stumbled over half of the words, his voice quivering from trying to hold back his tears. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His hand was shaking too much for him to get the ring on Ancel’s hand the first try and he broke into nervous laughter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I pronounce you married. You may now kiss your husband.”, with that Berenger clutched at Ancel like a dying man and met his lips eagerly. In Ancel’s arms his nervosity ceased, all he felt was calm. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Though as if the ceremony itself hadn’t been emotional enough Nicaise got up and rushed towards them before they could walk out. His slender arms wrapped around them for the first time and he squeezed them tight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Berenger met Ancel’s surprised gaze before they both wrapped their arms back around Nicaise. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You better not divorce now or you’ll be the ones who messed me up.”, Nicaise threatened as he let go of them again.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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